


A Kissing Tale

by 9_of_Clubs



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friend Bev - but double duty, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone Wants Hannibal, Except Bedelia but she is the Professor and Hannibal is a terrible flirt, F/F, F/M, Fluff, FranSquared - Franklyn/Francis aka The Cheese Folk, Hella Flirtation, M/M, Multi, Polyamory implied, everyone is drunk, this includes Bedelia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 01:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7246603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9_of_Clubs/pseuds/9_of_Clubs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jumped on the College AU Bandwagon for this one, and then decided to go all out on the kissing, so see how many kisses, real, imagined, almost, or otherwise, you can spot ;)<br/>--<br/>He's had a fair amount to drink, socked feet crossed under him on the couch, and maybe he's almost drunk, and maybe he's watching Hannibal a little too intently, Hannibal whose hair is still falling into his face where Will pushed it, who is watching him back with his usual level of intensity, a little more concentrated than usual with drink, but not by much.  Hannibal who is so close.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Kissing Tale

It's bad movie night, otherwise known as the monthly, drag Will from his room and make him socialize like a normal person because Bev says so and it's good for him, really, adventure.  
  
He's given up trying to tell her no.   
  
She's grinning widely when he finally makes his appearance, her head thrown back, laughing so hard her whole body shakes, full and throaty, at something Jimmy said from the foot of the couch. Alana's eyes are on her, sparkling extra bright. He tries to shut down that particular rush of sudden warmth before it starts, but it floods through him without asking, spinning right into the rougher, less defined, desire that pervades off of Brian in the corner as he watches the trio, nursing a beer, slumped and sprawled.   
  
But as though he has some magical bristling-dar in the back of his head, Brian’s gaze swings over to meet Will’s and he frowns, spine straightening slightly, chin up, posturing in reflex, and for a moment, Will finds himself the object of the half baked feelings as they lurch towards him, appraising. But they falter seconds later and right themselves intently, the blue eyed gaze swinging back to the group on the floor.

Will can't help but smirk a little to himself, Jimmy and Brian are basically meant to be, but it doesn't mean he doesn't get to enjoy the slightest bit of an ego boost from the latter's clearly unresolved, antagonistic attachment. If he had anything less than an absolute lack of desire to get more entangled in everyone's issues, more than he already is just by the oh so pleasant experience of being himself, he might have let it get too far, just once, to put an end to to the tension, an angry make out session or two, maybe - probably after dismantling another one of Brian's ridiculous attempts to get Jack’s, sorry, that’s Professor Crawford in class to him, attention. Even though as far as he’s concerned, Brian can have it.   
  
He doesn't realize his thoughts are showing through on his face, until Margot's elbow is sharp into the soft part of his ribs and he grins crookedly at her as she shakes her head, settling back and taking the drink she hands him. There's a reason he doesn't let himself out of his room much, but they insist.   
  
He thinks Brian may have spotted the smirk though, because he's getting up and, Will sighs to himself, but just in time to cut off a tirade of tipsy interrogation, the door swings open.   
  
"Yes, of course," Hannibal is saying resignedly to someone in the hallway. "I will contact you on Monday to begin work on our proj-"   
  
"But I was _hoping_ we could go to the Cheese Festival on Saturday." A slightly more than pouting whine interrupts. "I already bought tickets, I know how fond you are of donkey cheese, and then we could go over all that stuff for Professor Fell's class, and Professor Du Maurier too, I don't think she likes me very much, you know, and you're always going to see her during office hours, so maybe if we spent enough time, together, I mean, we could really-"   
  
But he doesn't get a chance to finish his thoughts either, because Bev has swayed herself over to the entrance, wrapping slightly clumsy arms around Hannibal's shoulder and giving him a too large kiss on the cheek, clearly pleased with the opportunity to cause some trouble.   
  
"Oh there you are, Hanni, darling, snookums. I was starting to get soooo worried." She reaches up to run her fingers through his hair and Will edges over so he can get a better approximate picture of Franklyn's face, frozen in sudden annoyance.   
  
"Beverly." He says rigidly. "I had no idea you and Hannibal were seeing each other."   
  
Will really couldn't say which one was better, Hannibal's oblique irritation at Bev's fingers messing up the just so part of his hair and dancing over to loosen his tie or Franklyn's clearly simmering temper. After all, he had gone through the effort of changing every single one of his classes to match Hannibal's schedule, only to find himself failing miserably at all of them, but managing to convince most, if not all, of his professors that as the top of his class Hannibal really should end up his tutor. So it would be a real pity to find Hannibal snatched away just in, Franklyn’s estimation, anyway, the doorway of victory. Just one good cheese away. Hannibal, on the other hand, is clearly ready to snap the guy’s neck so Will's sympathy, generally, is limited - probably better for Bev to wave him off than for him to find Hannibal’s presentation of patience halted abruptly.

He’s willing to bet that even already there’s something in Franklyn’s future that he’s not going to enjoy very much, but, well, it’s none of Will’s business, you live, you learn.

"Oh, Frankie, yes, we're madly in love, isn't it great? It happened just yesterday, I got so lost in those awful green and red stripes, you must have seen them, and I thought to myself, well there he is, the man for me.” She pulls back a little so she can swing around, grinning up at Hannibal from ear to ear. “Isn't that right, Hanni baby."  
  
Hannibal's teeth grind subtly in irritation at the repeated nickname, but his desire to be rid of Franklyn always wins out, immunity Bev is pressing her luck through and Will can't say he's not impressed, it's finger losing territory.   
  
"Precisely so, Bev, sweetheart." There's a warning growl in the tone and Bev is all innocent twinkling in response. "I simply have no greater desire daily than to take your breath away."   
  
She winks at him and with one last ruffle, Franklyn's eyes darting to the movement, she dances forward and bends over to kiss him on the cheek too.   
  
"Thanks for dropping him off for us.” She says into the other’s bewilderment. “I think I heard Francis saying the other day he had a thing for cheese, especially those little Baybel thinggies. I'm sure there's cheddar somewhere at your festival. Maybe he’d want to come along? Seems like he could use a good distracting most days."   
  
And then she's darted back, the door shutting, laughing over to Alana as Hannibal snatches out for her.   
  
"I can get you a comb," She announces, yelping a little and ducking behind the brunette as Hannibal takes another step forward. "And you can borrow the mirror, you know, if you can't wait to get the hair just right again. I know how hard it is to carry on without the perfect part."   
  
"Certainly, you do." Hannibal huffs at her and she raises her hand to her heart.   
  
"Ouch, Hannibal, ouch."

His eyes narrow, but the full use of his name seems to mollify him somewhat, along with the absence of the most annoying of the multiple shadows that follow him around. So he doesn't respond in a sort of dignified dramatic silence, and turns on his heel instead.  He sits himself on the couch next to Will who promptly hands him a drink. There's wine somewhere, but he suspects Hannibal could go for something stronger even if he’ll claim indignantly later that his tastebuds will never be the same again.  
  
The other cheers him quietly without complaint for the moment though, and takes back a large swallow which still somehow leaves him five times as dignified as the rest of them as Will leans back enjoying the relative peace the other's appearance raises in him. Unlike everyone else, Hannibal’s presence is more akin to dipping into a cool stream than a mine-filled, tug of war, whirlwind. He’s a steady, continual, calm that Will happily latches onto to drown out the rest of the turmoil around him, so maybe he can actually figure out what he's thinking himself for a moment or two   
  
They sit side by side in companionable silence as the chatter starts up around them again, Will noting with faint amusement that Hannibal does in fact reach up to rake fingers through his hair, pressing it back into place, before readjusting his ever so slightly askew tie. The fingers distract him for a moment as he drinks thoughtfully but hastily ducks away for a refill when Hannibal's eyes, always glittering with something, despite the calm he pervades, turn onto him.   
  
"So you've been spending a lot of time in good old Bedelia's office, huh?" He throws out to unsettle the weight of them off of his shoulders.   
  
Hannibal's smirk grows, lips rising to show teeth - a low curl of something rising in Will's stomach. "Franklyn exaggerates,” He demurs, but it’s painted with a certain smugness. “He has a gift for that."   
  
"Does he?"   
  
The amusement grows.   
  
"She passes her regards," He's too good to laugh outright, but the laughter is there, laced into the edges of his voice. "Admits that perhaps ‘twitchy’ and ‘righteous’ were a bit egregious."   
  
Will makes a sound of displeasure low in his throat, almost like a chuckle of his own, dark humor in his sarcasm. "Oh yeah, you can send her mine too, let her know I really miss her lectures on bird crushing. That it's been so hard not to drag myself to her little private lessons." He crosses his arms and grouses. "A _bit_ ."   
  
"I do not personally happen to find you twitchy." Hannibal offers sincerely, but he's mocking, allowing the ‘righteous’ to slip into approval with false innocence.   
  
Will growls and reaches out to mess his hair up again, not moving nearly so fast that Hannibal couldn't grab his wrist and stop it, but he doesn't.   
  
And this time, he lets the hair lay mussed as Will moved it.   
  
Will won't admit why, but it leaves a satisfied thrumming in his veins.   
  
\--   
  
It's late now, the movie finished, and the menu playing on repeat, no one close enough having bothered to turn it off.  Brian and Jimmy have slipped away, Alana's head has dropped onto Bev's shoulder and her fingers are twined with Margot's who is watching them both fondly. She presses her lips quietly to dark hair, once, twice.  
  
He's had a fair amount to drink, socked feet crossed under him on the couch, and maybe he's almost drunk, and maybe he's watching Hannibal a little too intently, Hannibal whose hair is still falling into his face where Will pushed it, who is watching him back with his usual level of intensity, a little more concentrated than usual with drink, but not by much.

Hannibal who is so close.  
  
There's something more too, now, in his usual veneer of steadiness, a wavering, a breathless hopefulness. His fingers splayed in the space between them.   
  
They watch each other watching. If it were anyone else he'd have looked away by now, he'd have shoved them away by now, but it's Hannibal and he's drunk, almost, almost drunk, and they're here together, somehow far from the rest of the room in this moment, from the rest of the world. It’s night now, fully, and the shadows make everything seem different.   
  
"Hannibal-" He murmurs, afraid to break the spell. But Hannibal tilts his head in the dim light, hollows lit up by the electric glare of the TV, and he smiles just slightly, just right, and before Will can think anything at all, before either of them can speak again, he's leaned forward, hand over hand, and pressed their lips together.   
  
Below the layer of alcohol, Hannibal's mouth is spice and warmth, unmoving for a beat of breath as he shudders against Will's touch, a crashing roar in both their ears, and then a slight snarl of lip, which sets Will reeling and kissing harder. His teeth graze into lip and Hannibal's nip back, and in a sudden tilt of the world, or maybe just the whiskey that's fire in his veins, stoking the desire higher, he's not sure where Hannibal ends and he begins.

They fade into each other as they kiss and it's better than any other loss of self he’s ever experienced, tastes more of gain than intrusion. There are always parts of himself that are missing, ever changing, but all the gears stop in this kiss, and everything seems to halt screeching into the right spaces.   
  
They're both breathing hard when they part finally, lips kiss swollen, wet.   
  
"Yes, Will?" There's a dreamy note to the smart ass response, and a softening just around the eyes that makes Will more than ready to start smashing down walls,   
  
But for now, in their corner of the universe, he just knees himself over, pressing Hannibal back against the couch, the other's neck tilting back, tempting, as he shifts, slow, to look at him, blinking in that lazy, infinitesimal way of his.   
  
"Shut up, Hannibal." He presses the words into the other's lungs and then steals them back again as their lips find each other anew.   
  
Around him, Hannibal reaches for the remote skillfully and flicks off the light and the music without even having to break the kiss, and together they descend into darkness.


End file.
